


Worth All the Trouble

by notdeadyet



Category: Brooklyn Nine-Nine (TV)
Genre: F/M, because why not tbh, just some fluff that takes place during season 4
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-11-13
Updated: 2016-11-13
Packaged: 2018-08-30 17:49:50
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,228
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/8542951
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/notdeadyet/pseuds/notdeadyet
Summary: Amy didn't really like the look of them, but if they were Jake's friends, they couldn't be too bad.Right?





	

“I dunno… something about it doesn’t seem right.” Amy said, scrolling through the file.

“What’s that one say?” Jake asked, reaching over her shoulder and pointing at the screen. It was nearing the end of their shift and the two of them were knee deep in a triple murder and suspected hostage situation. They had been at the case for over a week now, knocking on doors and following every lead they could grasp, giving their open cases to Charles and Rosa to deal with. Just the day before, another person was found dead, same pattern, same details, same everything. Needless to say, they hadn’t gotten much sleep. 

“Um…” Amy clicked open the link and the two of them scanned through. Jake’s back was seriously starting to cramp up from leaning over and he could tell Amy was fighting a yawn. “Wait.” 

“What? Did you find something? Please tell me you found something.” Jake asked, falling down into the chair beside her desk and rubbing his eyes.

“I think I did, actually!” She said, diving into the stack of papers and shifting through. “Aha!” She shoved the paper in his face with a triumphant grin.

“Er… do you need a massage?” He asked, reading over the paper outlining the details of a spa that one of the victims had frequented. 

“No, no, look at the address! It matches with this one…” She pointed at the screen, “and it says there was a large shipment from Paul’s Butchers!”

“The brother?”

“Yeah! Now, why would a spa want a very large shipment from an small-town shop that sells primarily bad chicken and questionable beef?”

“No idea… let’s find out.” Jake said with a grin, reaching for his jacket. “Wait.” 

“What?” Amy asked, arm already through the sleeve.

“Spa closed half an hour ago.”

“Oh.” She said, sitting back down.

“Come on, let’s just get home.” Jake said, pulling on his jacket.

“But, we still have an hour left in our shift.” Amy replied in confusion.

“Ames. We’ve been working non-stop for, like, a seven weeks.”

“Nine days.”

“Same difference. Holt will let us out a few minutes early.”

“Fifty-three minutes.”

Jake sighed loudly. “I’ll ask Holt if we can leave early, okay? You get your stuff. We can have a Chopped marathon tonight.” He grinned as he watched her will waver. “That’s my girl.”

With a small smile, Amy shoved her things in her purse and started to tidy up her desk. She looked up in curiosity when she heard the elevator doors open. Out came three rowdy guys, probably in their mid-thirties, and walked into the precinct like it was their god-given right to be there. Charles and Rosa were away making an arrest, Hitchcock and Scully were sleeping (possibly in a food coma), and Sarge was in the evidence locker, leaving Amy the only person in the room. The three of them approached her and Amy could smell trouble (and stale beer).

“Hey, lady.” The biggest one said. “My buds and me are looking for someone.”

“My buds and I.” Amy corrected automatically. “Are you here for Todd Jenkins?” She added, referring to the last guy left in the holding cell.

“Whatever. No, we’re looking for a college friend. Heard he worked here. Jake Peralta, you know him?”

“Yes, he’s just talking to the Captain. He should be out in a moment.” Amy replied, shrugging on her coat. She really didn’t like the look of these guys, but she figured that if they were really friends with Jake, they couldn’t be that bad.

Resuming their chatter as though she didn’t even exist, one of them leaned on her desk, knocking over her coffee mug. In a panic, Amy all but dove forward and caught the mug before any scalding coffee could spill on their evidence papers, instead allowing the liquid to spill over her hand.

“Ouch!” She said involuntarily. The three of them stared at her. “Coffee. I didn’t want it to spill on my papers.” She explained, reaching for a tissue to clean off her hand. 

“Papers? What, these things?” The guy leaning on her desk asked, reaching down and picking up the top one.

“No!” Amy said, grabbing the paper back. They stared at her again. “Sorry, that’s highly confidential.” Amy placed the paper back on the top of the pile neatly, acutely aware of the incredulous looks they were giving her. “Excuse me for a moment, I need to wash off the coffee.” Amy wasn’t sure why she said this, because it couldn’t be more obvious that they didn’t care.

It took a bit of begging, but in the end, Holt agreed to let Jake and Amy head home early. If someone was to tell Jake that one day he’d be excited to go back home, where he lived with Amy Santiago, to cuddle on the couch with popcorn and the cooking channel, he would probably laugh in their face. Now, he honestly was not kidding when that sounded like an ideal Thursday night.

With a final salute to their exasperated Captain, Jake strode out the door and towards his desk. “Alright, Santiago, time to- Craig? Bruce? Will?” Jake really could not have been more surprised to see some of his college friends he hadn't even thought about in years in the middle of a New York precinct. “Hey, man! What are you guys doing here?”

“James said that you were working here and we were in town for the weekend. Thought we’d stop by, catch up, get some drinks.” Craig explained, stepping forward to slap Jake on the back. 

“Oh, nice! There’s a bar just down the street. Give me a sec to run it by… did you see a lady here?” Jake asked, noticing a lack of Amy.

“Yeah, she went over there.” Bruce said, pointing to the break room. 

“Alright, cool, be right back.” Jake said before making his way past a comatose Hitchcock and Scully towards the break room. Amy was standing over the sink, drying her hands.

“Hey, Ames, some of my college friends are in town…”

Amy turned and smiled at him. “Go ahead, Jake. Have some fun.”

“Wanna come with?” He asked, grinning at her.

“Nah, go on ahead.” She said, waving her hand. “We’ll make that arrest and finished up this case tomorrow and have the whole weekend to ourselves. Saturday night Die Hard, okay?” Amy smiled, putting the towel down.

“You are honestly amazing and I love you so much.” Jake said, stepping forward to kiss her. Usually, they avoided such PDA in the precinct, but they were alone in a closed off room with the blinds down, and Jake figured they could risk it. Amy didn’t seem to care either, simply rubbed his arm when he pulled back and grinned at him. 

“Love you too, babe. Now go on, don’t keep them waiting.” She said, allowing Jake to kiss her temple one last time before walking backwards out of the break room.

“Tomorrow we’re going to prove that we’re the best damn detectives in this precinct.” He called back to her before spinning on heel and grabbing his jacket off his chair. “Let’s go guys!” 

They made it to Shaw’s in record time and slid into the nearest empty booth while Bruce went and got drinks.

“How have things been?” Jake finally asked when a beer was placed in front of him.

“Great, yeah, been keeping it real.” Craig said, leaning back in his seat. “Working at a record shop in Chicago now.”

“Bruce and I are working at the garage down the road. Three of us stuck together.” Will said proudly.

“After you went off to work in the big leagues, we graduated and hopped around for a while.” Bruce added, gulping down half his beer.

“Finally settled down. Really nice strip club just a few blocks from our apartment, so that’s awesome.”

“Oh, you live together?” Jake asked, his grin wavering. All through college, Jake remembered the three of them were thicker than thieves. By the time they hit grad year, Jake wasn’t even sure they knew how to breathe without having each other for guidance. It was strange to know that years later nothing had changed.

“Yep. Always good times, always out late with hot chicks. You know any good hook up spots around here?” Craig asked, and Jake refrained from rolling his eyes. They really hadn’t changed at all.

“Not really. Not my scene anymore.” Jake said with a shrug.

“Come on, Jake! You gotta let loose. Working all day with fancy cops must be exhausting.”

At that, Jake felt a stab of resentment. “They are all pretty cool. Honestly, those guys are some of the best people I know.” Jake said, trying to keep the defensive tone out of his voice.

“Whatever, mate. Doesn’t mean you don’t need a pick-me-up.” Craig said, and Jake was all too aware that he wasn’t talking about another drink.

“That’s really not my thing anymore. I’m with someone now.”

“Really?” The three of them looked honestly shocked. “You have a girlfriend? For real?”

Jake almost felt insulted before remembering what Amy had said all those years ago – you’re not exactly the king of mature relationships. “Yep. I do. She’s the best.”

Will laughed. “Better than that stick-in-the-mud at your work, right?”

“She corrected my grammar, for gods’ sake. How do you put up with her everyday?” Craig added and Jake opened his mouth to retaliate. Before he could speak, however, Bruce just had to step in.

“Hot as hell though. I’d hit that.”

Jake was actually very impressed with himself, considering how he wanted to handle the situation. “She’s actually pretty damn amazing. She’s been my partner for years. Her name is Amy and she’s the best thing that ever happened to me, and I blew her off tonight to come here with you. Now, if you’ll excuse me, I’m going to go home and watch Chopped with my girlfriend, who corrected your grammar because it was awful. Probably. I don’t know. She’s just really smart.”

The three guys sat in shocked silence before Craig spoke. “Sorry, Peralta. Just saying. She seems like a bit of a bitch, making you check in with her all the time.” 

Jake stared at him. “I really wish you hadn’t said that.”

 

The microwave dinged and Amy opened the door and grabbed the metal without thinking. Hissing in pain, she dropped the probably still semi-frozen dinner on the floor, watching chucks of rice and what was most likely beef but may have been tofu splash onto the tiles she had just cleaned. 

“God dammit.” She muttered, turning towards the sink to run her hand under cold water. Grabbing some paper towels, she turned around to wipe up the mess that was supposed to be her dinner, only to slam her head on the door of the microwave. “Ouch!” Suddenly, the tea kettle started to whistle, making her jump and slip on the paper towel she had dropped. 

And that’s how Jake found her – sitting on the kitchen floor, staring at a semi-frozen chunk of beef and seriously considering just eating it off the tiles. 

“Er… what happened?” He asked, trying and failing to hold back a grin.

“Tried to make dinner.” She said with a sigh. “What are you doing back so early?”

The amused look on Jake’s face darkened immediately. Offering her his hand, he pulled her up, avoiding eye contact.

“I may have just gotten temporarily kicked out of Shaw’s.” 

“What did you do?” Amy asked in alarm. “Are you hurt?”

“No, no, no, I’m fine. Mostly.”

Amy looked at him closely. “Where are your friends, Jake?”

“They are not my friends.” Jake said instantly, and Amy rose an eyebrow. “Not… anymore.” Jake looked down at the hand still holding hers. “Remember Craig? You corrected his grammar.” Amy nodded slowly. “I super punched him in the face.”

“Why would you do something like that? Did they insult Holt like that author guy did?” Amy asked, her anger rising too.

“What? No. They, um, insulted you.”

Amy looked at him blankly. “Me.”

“Yeah. You.”

“You got in a bar fight over me?”

“In all honesty it wasn’t really a bar fight. I punched Craig, and sorta just ran out before the other two could catch up. Not sure if you noticed, Ames, but they were a lot bigger than me.”

Jake wasn’t sure what he had expected her to do. Possibly scold him for defending her when she could easily take care of herself (which Jake knew already), maybe tell him that she wasn’t worth that trouble (she totally was worth all the trouble), perhaps roll her eyes (something she seemed to do quite often). What he had not expected, however, was for her to burst out laughing and kiss him (not that he was disappointed by this outcome). 

“I’m really not complaining, but what was that for?”

“For being you, Jake. For just… being there for me all the time.” Amy said, smiling softly. “Not that I really need it, Peralta. I am not worth getting in trouble for!”

At that, Jake burst out laughing and pulled her closer, not even caring that he was probably stepping on what was left of a microwave dinner. “I love you so much.”

“Love you too.” Amy whispered back.

**Author's Note:**

> guess who's still procrastinatingggggggggg  
> Hope you liked this one, i wrote it in like 20 minutes because I was bored and school work sucks and that is why I am Not A Good Student (tm)  
> Always love those reviews!!!


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